Schuylkill Shots photo contest seeks to promote river

To celebrate the 10-year anniversary of groups working together to clean up the Schuylkill River, the Schuylkill Action Network is again hosting its Schuylkill Shots photo contest.

More than 6,000 people submitted photos of the river in the first year of the contest in 2012.

Schuylkill Action Network is again asking area residents of all ages to submit high quality photos showing the beauty, purity and enjoyment that the Schuylkill River can bring to communities along its banks. Each contestant can submit up to six photos, two per category, and can do so using the contest app available on the Schuylkill Action Network’s Facebook page (www.facebook.com/SchuylkillWaters). Categories are Wild and Scenic, Fun on the Schuylkill and Tip Top Tap.

Photos should be submitted by Oct. 30, 2013 to be considered.

Judges affiliated with the Schuylkill Action Network will choose 10 finalists in each of the three categories, announcing the finalists by Nov. 15. The public will then vote for their favorites over the next month. Judges will also choose their favorite photos for Judges’ Choice Awards.

Prizes include gift cards to REI, Amazon.com or Calumet Photographic. The cards range in value from $100 to $250.

The Schuylkill River travels 130 miles through the cities of Pottsville, Reading, Pottstown, Norristown, and Philadelphia. In 1978, it was the first river included in the state’s Scenic Rivers Program. Today the Schuylkill is a source of drinking water for millions of people and a critical source of fresh water for the Delaware Estuary, where salt water from the ocean mixes with fresh water from the Delaware River.

The Schuylkill Action Network is a collaboration of agencies, companies, individuals, and nonprofit organizations founded to help clean up the Schuylkill River and the many waterways flowing into it. The SAN does this by collaborating on projects in Berks, Chester, Montgomery, Philadelphia, and Schuylkill counties. In this way, it helps to protect nearly 2 million Pennsylvanians, all of whom depend on these waterways for safe drinking water. Since 2003, the SAN has grown to include dozens of local, private, and public members, in addition to its five founders: the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Region 3; Philadelphia Water Department; Delaware River Basin Commission; Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection; and the Partnership for the Delaware Estuary.

For more information, call the Schuylkill Action Network at 800-445-4935, extension 109.